Tallow or Vegan, and why?

I am omnivorous.

I don't care.

I would prefer that animals not be killed but humans were designed by nature to consume meat and potatoes.

Fighting mother nature, as I am finding out now that I am 83, is a losing battle that I am no longer up to.

Mickey

Must go now. I have to make supper.
M.O

Both seem to preform great. I have great vegan and tallow soaps, but also poor vegan and tallow soaps. I may not the the best person to judge though.

If animals were being killed solely for soaps I'd be against using tallow soaps, but as long as it uses the unwanted parts left over from making meat, I think it's great. No part of animal should be wasted out of respect for it losing its life.

Think soap performance is more on how ingredients are used rather then tallow vs vegan.

If the soap performs well, I don't care whether the fat is animal or vegetable.

Modifying my answer here. While I don't exclusively use one type or the other, now that I think about it, I prefer veggie soaps. I find they lather much more quickly and easily and they don't have the greasy feeling that some tallow soaps have.

Ok folks, which do you prefer and why?  Tallow or Vegan?  

I prefer shaving soaps that work well for me over those that don't.  The ingredients list is irrelevant as far as I am concerned.  I have used some very good tallow soaps (icluding Mike's Natural, Tabac, Prarie Creations, Mitchell's Wool Fat) and equally good non-tallow soaps (including Van Der Hagen Deluxe, Institut Karite, The Soap Opera Himalaya).  I have also used a bunch of other soaps, and never found any correlation between tallow, or the lack thereof, and shaving soap quality.  Maybe the recent "tallow uber alles" fad is due more to marketing than anything else?

I use the term "non-tallow" because such soaps are not necessarily vegan.

If animals were being killed solely for soaps I'd be against using tallow soaps, but as long as it uses the unwanted parts left over from making meat, I think it's great. No part of animal should be wasted out of respect for it losing its life.

You mean like badgers being killed solely to make shaving brushes? I don't ever recall seeing Kung Pao Badger on any menu.

If animals were being killed solely for soaps I'd be against using tallow soaps, but as long as it uses the unwanted parts left over from making meat, I think it's great. No part of animal should be wasted out of respect for it losing its life.

You mean like badgers being killed solely to make shaving brushes? I don't ever recall seeing Kung Pao Badger on any menu.

I've always read that badgers in China (from whence the hair used in brushes mostly comes) are indeed killed and used as food. As far as I know they're not killed just for their fur.

Phil! Long time no see. Hope you are well.

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Hey Chris! I pop in from time to time. I'm great, thanks. Always catch every TSE video too. Looks like you are back on a bit of a buying spree again lately

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Don't remind me about the buying


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That's like asking me if I dress to the left or the right.

[off topic] What a memory that rekindles. When I was 12 years old my father took me to one of the lesser men's clothing stores in Philadelphia (couldn't afford Jacob Reed and Sons) to be measured for my first suit. When the "which side do you dress on" question was popped, I gave the taylor a dumb look having no clue of what I was being asked. My father watching the proceeding from a chair, absolutely lost it gales of laughter. After what must have been a full minute, the taylor and my dad collaborated in explaining to me, as delicately as possible, what the question meant. These are the little things that make us what we are. [/off topic]

What a priceless story, beamon.  I am embarrassed to say that I had no idea what the term meant until I was in my twenties.  I rarely wore (or wear) suits and the one my parents purchased for me for my Bar Mitzvah was off the rack at a department store so, needless to say, the question never came up.  When I finally did hear the term, I remember asking what it meant and, thank goodness, my friend just answered the question with no laughter.  Learning experiences come at all ages.

This may sound a bit different, but in winter prefer tallow and in summer I prefer non-tallow. Living in Chicago can leave me with pretty dry skin in winter, so I generally use tallow soaps with a heavy rotation of soaps containing lanolin. In warmer weather my skin tends to be healthy to sometimes oily, so I don't have the same need for post shave moisturizing. To me a great performing soap is a great performing soap!

Ok folks, which do you prefer and why?  Tallow or Vegan?  

I prefer shaving soaps that work well for me over those that don't.  The ingredients list is irrelevant as far as I am concerned.  I have used some very good tallow soaps (icluding Mike's Natural, Tabac, Prarie Creations, Mitchell's Wool Fat) and equally good non-tallow soaps (including Van Der Hagen Deluxe, Institut Karite, The Soap Opera Himalaya).  I have also used a bunch of other soaps, and never found any correlation between tallow, or the lack thereof, and shaving soap quality.  Maybe the recent "tallow uber alles" fad is due more to marketing than anything else?

I use the term "non-tallow" because such soaps are not necessarily vegan.

There is not a doubt in my mind that many tallow/lanolin soaps outperform most non-tallow soaps that I've tried where conditioning and post shave moisturizing is of concern. It is not the tallow alone imo, but the combination of tallow and lanolin, along with other butters and oils. All of the tallow soaps that I use have at least 2 butters such as shea and kokum, and at least a few fixed oils such as sweet almond, avocado, apricot kernel, palm kernel, castor, coconut, etc. In contrast to the tallow/lanolin soaps, many veggie or non-tallow soaps have minimalist recipes that often include only stearic acid, glycerin, and coconut oil. The veggie or non-tallow soaps that contain additional oils and butters tend to perform more like tallow soaps, for example Soap Commander and Tabula Rasa. For this reason I am ordering some samples of Route 66 shave soaps. Those soaps are non-tallow but include stearic acid, palm kernel oil, vegetable glycerin, lanolin, avocado oil, coconut milk, and silk amino acids. I have a good feeling about those soaps based on the ingredients, and I will find out soon.